The radial carcass reinforcements of such tires generally comprise several plies of textile cords, which are anchored in each bead to at least one bead wire and generally have a single bead wire. The reinforcing elements of these reinforcements are wound around said bead wire from the inside to the outside, forming turn-ups, the respective ends of which are spaced radially from the axis of rotation of the tire. The severe conditions under which airplane tires are used are such that the life of the beads is short, particularly in the area of the turn-ups of the carcass reinforcement.
A substantial improvement in performance is obtained by the separating of the plies of the carcass reinforcement into two groups. The first group comprises the plies of the carcass reinforcement which are axially towards the inside in the region of the beads, these plies being then wound around a bead wire in each bead from the inside to the outside of the tire. The second group is formed of at least one axially outer ply in the region of the beads, which ply is generally wound around the bead wire from the outside to the inside of the tire. Such arrangements are known; for instance, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,244,414.
The life of beads formed in this manner can be improved by the presence in each bead of an additional reinforcement ply, wound around the bead wire and thus forming an axially outer leg and an axially inner leg, said reinforcement ply, also known as an inner flipper, being the ply closest to the rubber filler, radially above the anchoring bead wire. A tire structure of this type is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,285,835. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,769,982, the life of the beads of airplane tires can be further improved, particularly when they are subjected to heavy overloads which can result in a crushing of the order of 50% and more of their height, by having the arrangement of the ends of the turned-up portions or turn-ups of the inner carcass plies and the ends of the legs of the inner flipper with respect to the radial position of the radially upper end of the rubber filler located above the anchoring bead wire and the filler.
In accordance with U.S. Pat. No. 5,769,982: in that invention, a prior art airplane tire, inflated to a high pressure, having a tread, a crown reinforcement, and a radial carcass reinforcement having at least two axially inner plies of textile cords wound around a bead wire in each bead from the inside to the outside forming turn-ups and at least one axially outer ply of textile cords superimposed on the inner plies below the crown reinforcement and along the turn-ups in said beads. The bead wire is radially surmounted by a filler of vulcanized rubber mix, having the shape substantially of a triangle, the apex of which radially furthest from the axis of rotation is at a distance D from a straight line parallel to said axis, passing through the geometrical center of the circle circumscribed on the cross-section of the anchoring bead wire, known as the reference line, and also having at least one inner flipper wound around the bead wire to form an axially inner leg and an axially outer leg which are axially adjacent to the filler above the bead wire, characterized by the fact that the end of the axially outer leg of the inner flipper is located at a radial distance Lg from the reference line such that LE is between 0.40 D and 0.80 D; the end of the turn-up of the inner carcass ply arranged axially furthest to the inside is located at a distance HA from the reference line such that HA is between 0.15 D and 0.50 D, and by the fact that the ends respectively of the inner leg of the inner flipper and of the turn-ups of the inner carcass ply or plies which are axially furthest to the outside as is illustrated in FIG. 1.
While this construction is durable, it limits the number of carcass plies that can be provided in the bead area and the extended length of the flipper means that the outer plies being turned down around the bead and the inner plies are spaced from the natural ply path of the tire in the region of the flipper. This spacing, while believed desirable, results in one less ply being available in the structure and in the case of very large aircraft the tire structure ideally may require the use of another ply which is effectively precluded by the use of this extended length flipper.
In an earlier invention, U.S. Pat. No. 6,648,041 B1, I proposed an improved aircraft tire design employing a flipper having both an axially inner end and an axially outer end of the flipper that extend only a distance less than the radially outermost extent of a bead filler 40 which was at a distance D as measured from the center of a bead core 30. This was a marked improvement over the then existing prior art tires using longer flippers. I recently discovered a further improvement to my earlier invention which has the added benefits of increased strength wherein the flipper has one low ply turn-up end on the axially outer side of the bead wire, the other axially inner end terminating much higher than those in the prior art.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a lightweight efficient tire structure having superb durability.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improved bead structure wherein the use of inside turn-up plies and outside turndown plies is optimized by the placing of the plies close to the natural ply path.